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No ‘U.S. Goodwood’ planned

October 25, 2012

A vintage Jaguar passes the pits at the Goodwood circuit during the Goodwood Revival in September. The track looks much the way it did when it last staged an "official" race in the 1960s. Photo by Roger Hart

Following the recent very successful Goodwood Revival, where more than 150,000 people packed the vintage racetrack in the south of England at the end of September for three days of vintage racing and celebrating cars and drivers from the past, rumors ran through U.S. vintage-car circles that a similar “Goodwood-type” event was being planned for North America.

In many ways, it would make perfect sense. There are several very popular, highly successful concours where a vintage racing event would prove popular. Already, vintage racing is part of the long Monterey Weekend surrounding the wildly successful Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, although the two events—the racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and the concours at the Pebble Beach Golf Links—are separate and run by different organizations.

And the Hilton Head Motoring Festival and Concours d’Elegance operates a vintage race—the Savannah Speed Classic in Savannah, Ga.—in conjunction with its week-long celebration of the automobile.

In further thought, the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance would be a natural, as event organizer Bill Warner is a big motorsports fan, and the popular seminars staged during the Amelia event celebrate racing, race cars and racers from the past.

Warner moved quickly to dispel the Goodwood-Amelia rumor.

“We have read the various reports about the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance being in talks to bring a Goodwood-like revival to the United States, and they are not true,” Warner said. “The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Foundation has only approached the City of Fernandina (Fla.) and The Fernandina Beach Airport officials to determine whether a vintage racing event could take place on their facility. While we certainly respect Goodwood as an organization, we are not currently involved in bringing this event to the States and any statement suggesting that we are is purely speculative.”

Likewise, Mark Featherstone, CEO of Goodwood, said it was all just a case of “crossed wires.”

“A recent American press report has inaccurately speculated that Goodwood may soon be introducing its successful Revival event into the USA,” Featherstone said. “Goodwood can confirm that it has no knowledge and no intention of running such an event outside of the United Kingdom at this stage.”

Producing such a lavish event as the Goodwood Revival takes a large staff and a large venue in which to stage it. Part of what makes the Revival so successful is the venue itself, which looks as if it has been locked in a time warp for the past six decades or so. Spectators and participants are encouraged to dress in vintage attire, and the vast majority do so.

While official parties saying there are no plans in the works should stifle the rumor mill, there remains no reason to think such an event couldn’t be successful in the States. Seeing vintage race cars on a track doing what they were built to do is still a powerful draw for young and old.